Several years ago, I used Blockada, which was frequently recommended. According to some discussion threads, it seems to have fallen from grace.

What ad blocker that doesn’t require root do you use? What’s your experience with it? Would you recommend it?

  • RichRatsch@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You can easily use private DNS settings on your android without installing anything!

    dns.adguard.com is simple and works well nextdns allows more configuration, stats and blocklists

    • Carter@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      I personally never found DNS adblockers to be very successful.

      • monotremata@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        If you’re using Chrome, that’s why. Chrome bypasses your DNS settings and uses Google’s DNS because they found using the system settings was affecting their ad revenue. Using Firefox fixes this, although in Firefox you can just use ublock origin anyway, which works even better.

        • flawedFraction@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Chrome doesn’t behave that way for me. It uses my DNS settings correctly and ads are blocked. I can’t remember it ever not behaving, though I usually use Firefox.

      • tal@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        The developers of an app that uses ads can also just route the traffic through a server that also provides something crirical for the app to work. You’d have some CDN probably serving both. I mean, in the long run, if app developers work againat it, you can’t block apps from showing ads by blocking network traffic.

        I doubt that the Android security model lets apps know what’s happening on overlays, though, as doing so would create issues for Android as an OS. So apps that cover up ads are hard for app developers to defeat.

    • OptimisticPrime@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      So what I never understood, why is this free and is there an risk attaches to using it, e.g. adguard or nextdns logging your traffic or something. I have always been suspicious, for no good reason to be honest, of using such a dns service.

  • nefarious@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Honestly, I should probably set up a system-wide adblocker, but I just use uBlock in Firefox and avoid apps that shove ads in my face.

  • TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I set up an account with NextDNS and set them as my DNS server. It blocks ads, trackers, malicious websites. You can set up custom blocks, rewrites, and it has logging.

      • TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Plus it’s free under 300k queries a month. I’ve been using it for years and never hit my limit. I should pay for it though, it’s not expensive and I’ve gotten a lot of value out of it.

          • TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I considered setting up a pi hole or something similar, but worry about the bus situation and my family. I figure NextDNS would be easier to maintain or remove than added hardware.

        • dallyo@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Same with me. After I’ve read you comment i bought the subscription. This service is so worth to me.

          • TurnItOff_OnAgain@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I am looking at installing some custom firmware in my router that will do DNS over https and setting NextDNS for my whole house. I’ll definitely need to pay for it then.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    I’m surprised that I haven’t seen anyone mention this, but Firefox for Android lets you install from a list of compatible extensions. You can use uBlock Origin as normal.

    • TwinTurbo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Thanks. Vivaldi has built-in support for ad blocking, too, and you can also add custom lists to it.

  • tirestarter@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been using AdGuard on my phone (OnePlus 6T) and tablet (Tab S7 FE) for quite some time now. Neither device is rooted. I got AdGuard lifetime license on sale from StackSocial a while back. The app isn’t on the Play Store (if you look for it, you will instead find an extension for the Samsung browser or something). They have you download the .apk from their site, and then you can set up the blocking how you prefer. It works by setting up a local VPN. I think there’s other ways to use it but I didn’t feel the need to tweak further. Because it acts like a VPN, all app traffic flows through it so ads are blocked pretty much system-wide. Browsers, social media apps etc. Honestly I’d highly recommend it.

    • TwinTurbo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Have you noticed any battery drain from it? Blockada sometimes affected my battery life when in use, or even after I deactivated it.

      • Zeek@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Blokada likes to eat up battery because all filtering takes place on your device. The more lists you have the worse it gets. AdGuard uses their own servers to block stuff and only does some cosmetic filtering in their app. In my experience it almost didn’t affect the battery at all.

      • tirestarter@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Honestly not that much. It seems pretty lightweight. It has it’s own measurement of battery usage (can’t say how accurate it is but still better than nothing perhaps?) and on the tablet it has consumed around 9mAh, which I guess isn’t too crazy.

  • Wander@yiffit.net
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    1 year ago

    Adguard works by setting up a virtual VPN and blocking adds that go through it.

  • Landrin201@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Personally I use a VPN (Proton vpn but there are loads) that blocks ads.

    At home I use a pihole, which is fantastic.

  • tvmole@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I use DNS66 downloaded from F-Droid. It registers itself as a VPN, but it’s actually a DNS filter, not a VPN. It works to filter ads on most apps, and you can individually disable it for specific apps if needed.

    I also use the Firefox app, which supports a few add-ons (much less than the desktop version), including uBlock and some similar options

    I’d recommend one or both. They’re working great for me on a non-rooted Pixel 4a 5G

  • L3ft_F13ld!@social.fossware.space
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    1 year ago

    AdAway is what I use on my rooted devices. It does have a rootless mode as well and if it’s anywhere near as good as the root mode I would absolutely recommend it. I haven’t tested it though so give it a shot.

    • OverfedRaccoon 🦝@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      AdAway works very well unrooted. It sets itself as a VPN that you can toggle on/off within the notification or app. I’ve had no issues with it, personally. Recommended, especially if coming from Blokada since they moved to subscriptions.

      • TwinTurbo@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        Thanks! I’m leaning towards this option. Have you noticed any battery drain? Blockada seemed to affected my battery life sometimes.

  • Zeek@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    NextDNS (free up to 300k queries/month, doesn’t require any additional apps) or AdGuard (paid but has cosmetic filtering, they have their own app available on their website). Both are fast and don’t require root.

    • TwinTurbo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      They’ve moved to a cloud-based, subscription model for the new version (Blockada 6). You can still get Blockada 5, which is offline and free, for now, but it may be phased out at some point.

    • Sebastrion@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I don’t know. I still use it and it works flawless for me. Is there a reason why I should use something else?

  • VerPoilu@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I use TrackerControl. It doesn’t block ads in browsers, however, so I use Firefox and ublock origin there.

  • Mbeezer@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Adaway is the go to thing for me, it’s FOSS and Supports VPN as Well as Root Mode. Also it already has some Blocklists integrated and you can easily add more and the battery drain is near to negligable.